"Comedy? In Bozeman???" Part One

I’d like to tell you the unlikely story of our fledgling comedy scene in Bozeman, Montana.

“Is there a comedy scene in Bozeman??”

Yes, emphatically yes. The story of how we got one is pretty remarkable, too. In my opinion it is a true indie success story and I’m so proud to have had my little part in it.

Let me start at the beginning. Three and a half years ago, in January of 2014, I was working at a Taco Del Mar with my friend Garrison. One day he told me that there was an open mic night in town at the FOE bar, and that I should go.

I missed the first one, but came back two weeks later on January 22nd. I didn’t realize the one I missed was the first ever, because I felt super nervous about approaching all of these people who seemed way better at comedy than I was. Later on, I found out that pretty much everybody felt the same way.

Just a few months into our comedy scene existing, some comedy organizers from billings threw a contest in Bozeman. The entire thing was pretty much a desperate grab for ticket sales, we were constantly told to bring as many friends as we could and the rules were constantly changing. There were accusations flung left and right about people stealing jokes. To be honest, our scene barely survived that contest.

We quickly discovered that we all liked doing comedy. But getting better was a struggle. We only had one bi-monthly open mic show. We had all listened to podcasts — we knew that the key to succeeding in comedy was to get as much stage time as possible.

We didn’t have many opportunities for stage time. And the Getting Weird show was struggling as it was. The host, Brian, was a great guy, but he was incredibly offensive on stage. He pretty much crafted a personal brand out of rape jokes (in a college town), and it could be incredibly cringe inducing.

So often, I would bring friends to comedy, and they would say “Kendama, you were funny and we really want to support you, but Brian was awful and we don’t want to come anymore.” My other friends who were open mic regulars thought the same thing. If we were going to build an audience, it was clear that something was going to have to give.

What were we to do?? Well, I'll tell you -- In the next installment of "Comedy? In Bozeman??"